New casinos on the Director's radar
By Kate Northrop
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin announced that he appointed Kelly T. Gee, the Virginia Lottery's Acting Director, as the permanent Executive Director.
Having served as the Virginia Lottery's Acting Director since January, Kelly T. Gee officially filled the role permanently on June 6.
On Friday, Youngkin announced several new administration appointments, including a Secretary of Administration, Secretary of Commerce and Trade, and Secretary of Finance, just to name a few.
"It is my honor to welcome our newest public servants and board members to the administration as we continue our efforts to make Virginia the best place to live, work, and raise a family," Youngkin said in a press release. "I am excited for our team to grow in expertise and aptitude as we conquer the most pressing challenges in Virginia that these coalitions of qualified individuals will serve to address."
According to the Lottery, Gee spent the last decade in public service, including eight years in the General Assembly, where she wrapped up as Deputy Chief of Staff to the 55th Speaker of the House.
She joined the Lottery in 2018 on the leadership team as the Manager of Government Relations. Gee's responsibilities included "managing the strategy and execution of legislative outreach efforts" and working with the team in policy creation and implementation, the Lottery states.
Gee assumes the role as Executive Director following Kevin Hall, who previously held the position until former Governor Ralph Northam's term ended in January.
The newest Executive Director of the Virginia Lottery will play a role in the opening of the state's first land-based casino.
"The Virginia Lottery has worked diligently for two years to build the appropriate regulatory structure for casino gambling," Gee said in April.
By a vote of 7-0, the Lottery's board of directors unanimously agreed to issue an operating license to Hard Rock Bristol for Virginia's first casino. The Lottery's Gaming and Compliance Department says that it is aiming to open a temporary facility located at the former Bristol Mall in early July 2022.
"We will be on-site at the casino over the next couple of months observing the receipt of gaming equipment, reviewing internal controls, and ensuring full compliance with the regulations," Lottery Deputy Executive Director of Gaming Compliance Gina M. Smith said at the time of the vote.
The approval marks the beginning of the Lottery's journey in reviewing additional applications for three more proposed casinos in Danville, Norfolk, and Portsmouth, which were all approved by voters in 2020.
"I am proud of the tireless work by our Gaming Compliance Department and our legal counsel for conducting the necessary investigative work to assist the board in its decision," Gee said. "There are still many steps to the finish line, but there is no doubt that this is an exciting time."
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Is this a first for lotteries? Opening a casino in Bristol, VA?
Be that as it may congratulations to her and hope she does not go to RNG like KY did!
Alrighty then....
About time!
Took a very long time. Got a few pals there, who will be happy that Virginia getting a casino. Maybe 1 day NC will beside all the way in Elizabeth City(pretty far(from where we are at, IN WILSON, but moving anyway this summer or before end of summer further east, NJ/PA/DE one of those 3 states.
I usually go right past and through VIRGINIA, visiting friends and family,(East coast)
off I-95, since moving south NC by mommie and daddy, 6 years ago
I just assumed VA.,
had one or two by now, then was told Nnnnope.
So, that left MARYLAND, DELAWARE, PA., and NJ, all off I-95.
I am happy to hear, a license was given to Bristal area,
for 1st time a casino)more jobs for the state as well.
It's one being built in Portsmouth, Va...A real casino not a memory machine place as they say
A great Governor doing good things for Virginia.
why does the article state Bristol, not far away Portsmouth, VA?
Apparently the Virginia voters approved casinos in 3 places ........Danville,Norfolk and Portsmouth. The State Lottery Board voted to provide license for an additional casino in Hard Rock in Bristol. Not sure if the one in Bristol was actually approved by the voters or if that was even necessary.
The West Virginia Lottery place video lottery terminals at Mountaineer Park in 1987. In 2007 many of the race tracks became full service casinos. Not sure if the lottery still regulates gaming, but they along with the horse racing industry started what became casino gaming in WVA.
Soon KY will have six 'casinos' with what they call HRM...Horse Racing Machines. Took me some time to warm up to them but folks win more it seems than Caesars across the river. Nobody seems to care that they are based on old horse races to circumvent the law in KY against 'casinos'. We will have two in Louisville.
WDRB interviewed me about three months ago outside Derby City Gaming because the family council is dead set against Sports wagering which naturally the repubs voted against much to the chagrin of Churchill Downs (who owns all the 'casinos'.) Told them folks are going to gamble no matter what and will, as they do, go to neighboring states for sports wagering. Ironically had my Kentucky Lottery hat on! The family council or whatever they called themselves testified that they were still against the lottery prior to the vote this year. Mind you it started in the late 80's---get over yourselves.
They call them Video lottery terminals I believe here too, HRM like in my previous post was new to me.
Fair to say it is synonymous with RNG and CNG...same thing.
Ironically two ads for Derby City Gaming aired while typing this!
WVA started with video poker, keno and a few other video type games, but no traditional coin slot machines. They didn't have as much hypocrisy as the they did in other states. The river boats that went nowhere actually issued boarding passes and the Missouri boats had chip buying limits.
Went to Red Mile a couple times and they have the same type of machines as regular casinos. Some still have a reference to historical horse races, but has nothing to do with game play. The minimum starts at .40 cents a spin and the max is at least $50 on higher domination machines.
They have off track betting and nice restaurants too.
Used to hate paying $5 to board one of those boats you were talking about. In addition some of them would go out just a little and if you missed it, the wait could be two hours. Indiana from what I understand still charges $5/customer, but the casino covers it. Most folks don't notice the counter that they pass through.
Yesterday the lady next to me and I would go to Race information and mash it several times to see what order the horses would come in. You know how some folks are (not her), they swear it makes the RNG open up. We didn't win!
There is a boat in Joliet, Illinois parked in the very shallow Des Plaines River. Once or twice a day they would back the boat up about 50 feet and then back to the dock. The hypocrisy is not as bad as it was but still exists in a couple states.